Mobile unit for heating buildings during construction



May 30 1950 A. c. BAUMANN 2,509,624

MOBILE UNIT FOR HEATING BUILDINGS DURING CONSTRUCTION Filed March 30, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 f/(s ATTORN EY May 30, 1950 A. c. BAUMANN MOBILE UNIT FOR HEATING BUILDINGS DURING CONSTRUCTION Filed March 30, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

ART/40R c. BAt/MANN A0; ATTORNEY Patented May 30, 1950 MOBILE UNIT FOR HEATING BUILDINGS DURING CONSTRUCTION Arthur C. Baumann, Oaklyn, N. J.

Application March 30, 1948, Serial No. 17,897

3 Claims.

This invention relates, in general, to heating apparatus, and more particularly to a portable heating unit especially designed and adapted for the temporary heating of houses and buildings during the construction period.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a compact, economical and ei'licient mobile heating unit that may be conveniently transported from one part of a building construction to another; and that may be employed, if desired, as a permanent part of the heating system of the completed construction.

Another object of the invention is to provide a portable heating unit especially adapted to provide steam heat for the interior of houses, buildings, etc., during construction and for further use after the construction is completed.

Another object of the invention is the provision of combination steam and hot water mobile heating unit which may be employed as a low-pressure steam generating plant for use in the heating of buildings during construction or at other times; and optionally as a permanent hot water heating unit after the building is completed.

A further object is to provide a highly efficient, portable heating unit of a design and construction particularly adapting the unit to be conveniently wheeled from one part of a building and having means to diffuse heat and provide hot water when desired.

Additional objects and advantages of the novel design and construction will appear more fully in the details hereinafter set forth and will be best understood by reference to the drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of an embodiment of the invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary elevational view, partly in section, of the assembly shown in Figure 1, and as seen from the opposite side thereof;

Figure 3 is a rear elevational view of the device;

Figure 4 is a front elevational view of the same;

Figure 5 is a side elevational view of a modified form of the invention with the radiator omitted; and,

Figure 6 is an end elevational view of the unit shown in Figure 5.

This invention particularly contemplates the provision of a portable heating means which will eliminate the customary seasonal idleness generally prevalent in the building trades during winter. It assures in convenient, mobile form an efficient heating plant for carrying on installations, etc., in any part of an unfinished house or building during periods of severe freezing weather, thus lengthening the season of construction and enabling the structure to be completed as though the construction were undertaken in the customary spring and summer months.

The unit not only provides means for heating buildings and houses, etc, during the process of construction in winter; but is also particularly designed and adapted for use as a permanent heating unit by merely disconnecting the radiator or heat-diffusing means, connecting the unit to the piping of the hot water radiator system of the building or house, and adding a conventional water circulator to the heating system. of the building. The apparatus will then function in the customary manner of a domestic or industrial hot water heating system. It will thus be seen that the device is adapted both for emergency and routine installations.

Referring now in detail to the embodiment of the invention, shown in Figures 1 to 4 inclusive, the numeral 40 designates, generally, a boiler assembly which may be of cellular or tubular type.

The boiler assembly, as best shown in Figures 3 and 4, is mounted on a movable platform or dolly I I equipped with ball bearing casters, indicated generally at I2.

As one of the features of this invention, the boiler I6 is partly encircled by a superimposed U-shaped casing or supply tank I 3 that serves as a receptacle for fuel oil or other combustible medium which is fed to the oil burner, as hereinafter described. The U-shaped tank It is. preferably insulated from the boiler II], in any suitable manner, as by asbestos sheathing Ill that serves to prevent undue heating of the fuel oil beyond the normal temperature best adapted for the maintenance of its fluidity.

Arranged over the boiler I 0 and operatlvely connected thereto by the inlet and outlet pipes I5, I6 respectively, is a heat-diffusing member or radiator indicated generally at I1. The radiator l1 includes a motorized fan assembly l8 and is provided with a suitable safety or relief valve, such as that shown at I9. A low water cut-off, automatic water feeder, indicated generally at 20, plus a gauge 2I, water lever indicator 22 and manually operable valves or controls 23 are also provided. In addition, temperature responsive relays or switches, as at 24, 25 which may be of a conventional design, for the automatic regulation and actuation of the operating components of the device, are provided.

The boiler assembly In includes a combustion chamber or fire box (not shown) to which access may be had through the closures or plates 26. Suitable means, such as the valve H, for emptying or replenishing the water in the boiler, are located at the lower portion of the boiler and preferably in a feed line or return pipe 28 from the radiator H to the said boiler.

The products of combustion from the fire box of the boiler assembly iii, after passing through the tubes or cells of the boiler, are conducted thence through a stack 29 connected to the assembly and having an extended pipe, as at 311, which serves to discharge said combustion "products into the atmosphere at any convenient point. A master relay 3! mounted on the stack 29 and electrically connected to the power source (not shown) and to the several operating controls of the device, is provided in accordance with conventional practice.

An oil burner 32 mounted on the floor of the platform or dolly H and electrically connected to the energizing circuit via the electric controls mentioned above, communicates with the combustion chamber of the boiler assembly. Fuel oil-from the U -shaped tank I3 is supplied to the oil burner via the piping, as at 33.

As referred to above, the oil tank I3 has been designed and configured to embrace the boiler, both with a View toeconorny of space, and also to assure preheating from the boiler when the oil burner is in operation. This preheating which is controlled within desired limits by the refractory and insulating sheathing M, is conducive to a more free flow of the fuel oil to the burner. The U-shaped tank itself may be bodily removed from the exterior of the boiler whenever desired. This is accomplished by disconnecting the pipes 55, it; and the oil piping as. This permits the tank to be bodily lifted from the boiler assembly, and the latter transferred to the basement of a building and then operatively coupled to the hot water radiator pipes of the house or building, The unit will now be operative to, at once, serve as a hot water heating unit. If desired, a conventional water circulator may be coupled to the unit for a more eificient transfer of the hot water from the boiler to the radiators of the house.

Although not illustrated in the drawings, the boiler it is designed to preferably include a copper pipe coil or worm for the provision of hot water from the faucets of the building, when desired.

In the form of the invention shown in Figures 4 and the oil supply tank 34, which may be of a fiat, rectilinear configuration, is detachably secured in any suitable manner, as by the cradle or brackets 35 to the adjacent underneath surface of the boiler assembly herein designated at 36. The oil tank 3% which directly supports the boiler assembly 33, is in turn supported-by casters 3?. In other respects, the modified form of the invention, aside from the cylindrical configuration of the boiler assembly 36, is substantially the same as the unit shown in Figures 1 to 4 inclusive, it being understood that the electric controls, relays, etc., are identical in design and function withthe first form of the invention described above.

As illustrated in Figures 5 and 6, the oil burner 38 is mounted on the upper surface of the fiat tank'td and is electrically connected to a master relay (not shown) arranged on the stack 39 "of the boiler 35. The numerals it and ll, inFigures 5 and 6, designate inlet and outlet pipes respectively which-operativelycouple the radiator 4 (not shown) to the boiler 36. Inspection and comparison of the device shown in Figures 5 and 6, with the assembly depicted in Figures 1 to 4 inclusive, will serve to make clear the correspondence of related parts and their related functions. The modified form of the invention may be preferred where it is desired to have a reduced overall height of the unit, so that it may be available forusein places where the height of the unit of the first form of the invention might prove inconvenient in moving the device through low doorways and passageways, etc.

The function and mode of operation of the two .forms or" the invention has been in large measure indicated above, but may be summarized as follows:

Assuming the stack 29 of the unit to be protruded through any convenient window or other opening communicating with the outer atmosphere and the U-shaped fuel tank of the first form of the invention to have -a supply of oil therein, and the thermostat-of the device set'to complete the electric circuit at a predetermined emperaturefitwill be understood thatthe operaion of the oil burner will generate steam in the boiler i c which will be conveyed through the inlet pipe -l to the radiator HT, and thence returned in condensed form via the outlet pipe 16 to the boiler. This procedure will raise' the temperature of the room or other section of the edifice in which it is located to a point where the customary installations and building operations in the interior of a structure under construction may be carried on efficiently and in comfort. The controls of the-device referred to above, are such as to maintain-both a'suitable head of water in the boiler and also to energize and deenergize the electric circuit when the temperature in any given place has passed the predetermined heat desired. When the building operation is completed, the unit may be employed in other building operations; -or, as described above, the U-shaped fuel tank may be removed, and the rest of the unit installed as a permanent hot Water generating plant.

The same procedure as that'described above occurs with respectto the'modified form of the invention. In the latter form, 'the lower overall heightof thedevice-ma-kes it particularly convenient and adaptable for thrusting or locating into comparatively low'alcoves and passageways. The fuel tank'in this form of the'invention, also may be removedafter the unit has served itspurpose and-the device then located wherever it test may serve as a permanent and integral part of the heating system-of the'house.

While I described with particularity two preferred forms of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is-susceptible of modification and changes-11d isnot limited to the precise details as set forth; reference being had to the appended claims rather than to-the foregoing description to indicate the scope of the'invention.

What'I claim is:

1. In a portable *heating'unit of the kind described comprising a boiler, an oil burner operatively connected to the boiler, 'aiU-shap'ed .oil supply tank detachably arranged on the periphery of the boiler and conforming to the shape thereof, means operatively connecting the oil burner to the tank, temperature responsive means for starting and stopping the operation 'of the oil burner, and a dolly movably supporting said unit.

2. In a.portable heating ,plant of the kind described comprising, in combination, a boiler, an

oil supply tank detachably mounted on the boiler and conforming to the shape thereof, means connected to the boiler for controlling the supply of Water thereto, a radiator mounted on top of the the oil supply tank and connected to the boiler, means within the boiler for supplying hot water therefrom, an oil burner operatively communicating with the boiler, and a dolly connected to and supporting said boiler and supply tank.

3. In a combination steam and hot Water mobile heating unit of the kind described, a boiler assembly, a U-shaped tank mounted on the said assembly and having a surface continuously juxtaposed against the exterior periphery of the assembly, means supporting the assembly and tank, 5

rality of pipes extending upwardly from the boiler assembly and protruding through said tank, a heat diffusing radiator connected to said pipes, and electrically operable, temperature responsive means connected to the unit and effective for regulating its operation.

ARTHUR C. BAUMANN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 463,559 White NOV, 17, 1891 1,662,935 Odell Mar, 20, 1928 2,249,554 Daly July 15, 1941 2,276,093 Robbins Mar. 10, 1942 

